358 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



stomach the food passes through three large sacs 

 which are to be looked upon as storage places 

 similar to the crop of birds. From these the food is 

 returned to the mouth to be thoroughly chewed ("chew- 

 ing the cud 77 ) before going into the real stomach and 



the intestine, in 

 both of which 

 digestion takes 

 place (see figure 

 183). 



As few of us 

 take time enough 

 to chew our food 

 properly, we 

 sometimes try to 

 make up for this 

 by cutting the 

 food into fine 

 pieces or other- 



FIG. 183. Stomach of a sheep cut open. r 



wise preparing it 



before eating it. But it is impossible for anything to 

 take the place of chewing the food. A part of the 

 effect of chewing we can get by softening the food 

 artificially, but the most important effect of chewing is 

 to cause a flow of the digestive juices, and to put us 

 in the right condition for digestion. For this reason 

 we cannot have the best digestion without long and 

 thorough chewing of our food. 



